Figure 2.

Combinatorial approach using Cre‐dependent DREADD in Cre‐driver line. (a) Immunohistochemistry against DIO‐HM3D(Gq)‐mCherry: (i) coronal and (ii) sagittal sections show limited expression of mCherry‐tagged HM3D DREADD to MHb^ChAT population. (iii) Coronal section of interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) shows expression of HM3D DREADD in axon terminals in the IPN, known to receive dense innervation from the cholinergic population of the vMHb. (b) Mean firing rate during baseline and following CNO (10 μM) infusion. HM3D‐mCherry expressing MHb neurons (n = 6) showed a 110.2 ± 39.5 percent increase in firing rate following CNO application (paired t‐test, t ₅ = 6.574, p = 0.0012). (c) When normalized to baseline, HM3D‐mCherry expressing MHb neurons showed a significant increase in percent change in firing rate (t ₅ = 2.787, p = 0.0386). (d) Frequency of spiking for HM3D‐mCherry expressing MHb cells during infusion, as a function of baseline values. (e) Loose seal recordings from representative fluorescent MHb neuron prior to baseline and 2 minutes following CNO (10 μM) infusion (*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01)